TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Press Release ......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Catalogue Text, Introduction by Ignacio Cano Rivero .................................................................................... 4
Ignacio Cano Rivero and Gabriele Finaldi ...................................................................................................... 18
BOZAR EXPO : Contemporary art ................................................................................................................... 19
BOZAR MUSIC : The Ear of Zurbarán .................................................................................................. 20
BOZAR CINEMA : Albert Serra ................................................................................................................ 21
Catalogue ............................................................................................................................................................. 23
Practical information ......................................................................................................................................... 23
Press contacts...................................................................................................................................................... 24
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PRESS RELEASE
Zurbarán. Master of Spain's Golden Age
BOZAR celebrates the work of the Spanish Baroque painter by presenting an
outstanding selection of 50 paintings. This unique survey of Francisco de Zurbarán's
oeuvre is a Belgian first!
29.01 > 25.05.2014
Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664) is, alongside
Velázquez and Murillo, one of the most
important Baroque painters of Spain's
Golden Age. The last major international
exhibition of his work took place back in 1988 at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the
Louvre (Paris), and the Museo Nacional del Prado
(Madrid). For the first time – exactly 350 years
after his death – a retrospective of his art can
now be seen in Belgium.
BOZAR and the Fondazione Ferrare Arte, in
an exceptional collaborative project with the
Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid) and the
Museo de Bellas Artes (Seville), have brought
together some 50 outstanding paintings
from the most prestigious collections. The
exhibition includes such renowned works as the
Prado’s Still Life with Four Vessels and the San
Diego Museum’s Agnus Dei.
Image 1
Four newly identified works by the artist
are on display to the public for the first
time (two of them are Appearance of the Virgen
to Saint Peter Nolasco and Mystical Marriage of
Saint Catherine) and six paintings have been
especially restored for the occasion, among
them the Saint Nicholas of Bari from the
Monastery of Guadalupe, the Saint Gabriel the
Archangel and the haunting Saint Francis.
The exhibition is organised thematically and chronologically and covers the key phases of the
artist's career. The public will be able to appreciate his oeuvre from his early works, which show a
Caravaggesque influence and are characterized by dramatic lighting, to his late, more poetic and
personal, paintings.
Zurbarán's oeuvre is predominantly made up of works with religious subjects, such as scenes from
the lives of saints, martyrs, and monks, often commissioned by churches and monastic orders. Like his
patrons, he was strongly committed to the energetic Counter-reformation spirit of the Catholic Church.
Painting, at that time, was seen as the reading matter of the uneducated believer; for that reason, it had
to be clear, direct and inspiring.
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Stylistically, he developed a unique visual language in which he combined pure naturalism with a
modern poetic sensibility. As a result, his contemplative paintings strike us today as startlingly modern
and timeless. Zurbaran's work has been a source of inspiration for many contemporary artists and
writers. Cees Nooteboom, for example, has written some splendid essays about his work, which have
made the Spanish artist more widely known by the general public in Northern Europe.
As a multidisciplinary centre, BOZAR also makes connections with other arts: music (a concert
cycle, The Intimate and the Sacred, and a CD, La Oreja de Zurbarán by the Huelgas Ensemble), cinema
(Albert Serra), and contemporary art (Cristina Iglesias and Craigie Horsfield).
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CATALOGUE TEXT, INTRODUCTION BY IGNACIO CANO RIVERO
Image 2
Francisco de Zurbarán is one of the most
remarkable painters in the pantheon of
the Spanish Baroque, and undoubtedly
one of its most authentic figures.
Although he did not enjoy the artistic
success of Velázquez and Murillo, this
native of Extremadura created a highly
personal, direct expression of Spanish
society in the first half of the seventeenth
century, with its culture of visual
symbolism, profound religiosity and view
of painting as a means of transcending
reality and acting as a tool for knowledge
and emotional expression.
Zurbarán’s painting is clear, direct and easy to understand. It seeks to communicate its subject in the
most immediate possible way. It does not suggest double meanings or encourage theories. All the
elements it depicts — everyday objects, fabrics and figures — are treated with profound attention.
Zurbarán is not interested in portraying allegories, but illustrates his chosen themes in order to present
very clear meanings. There are no enigmas in his work; on the contrary, he expresses himself in all
simplicity, unfettered by sophisticated compositional approaches. He often worked from prints made by
sixteenth-century artists such as Dürer and adopted traditional models that were familiar to ordinary
people, adapting them to his own language using keys offered by vernacular art, religion and theatre,
with no complex dialectical intent. Although many collections of emblems were published in Spain
during this period, Zurbarán chose not to use them, preferring medieval sources. His art is pared down
to the essentials, like that of Orthodox icons and medieval painting. This may explain his very particular
use of perspective, which reduces the representation of space to an abstract concept, an intellectual
category rather than the depiction of a scene in the theatrical style. Zurbarán does not represent concrete
space itself so much as an idea of space when the need arises. He does not seek to show reality, but to
depict elements that look real.
ZURBARÁN IN CONTEXT
According to some authors3 the Golden Age of Spanish painting began with the reign of the Catholic
monarchs (Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon), who unified the kingdoms of the Iberian
Peninsula, ushering in a period of peace and a cultural flowering that spread Spanish influence across
Europe. Artistic and cultural exchanges were consolidated during the reigns of Charles V and Philip II,
when the discovery of America had created favourable economic circumstances. In the early seventeenth
century Seville was the customs house of the New World, through which all economic transactions had
to pass; the city attracted artists from all over Europe, including Pietro Torrigiano (from Florence),
Pedro de Campaña (born Pieter de Kempeneer in Brussels) and Hernando de Esturmio (born Ferdinand
Storm in Zeeland), who came in search of commissions from its wealthy merchants and aristocrats.
Major artistic projects in Madrid, including the construction and decoration of the Escorial, brought a
great many Italian artists and works by the greatest painters to the capital. With them came new
aesthetic languages, which the Spanish artists assimilated in the closing decades of the sixteenth
century. This period saw the cementing of a common culture in Spain, differently expressed from one
school to the next, and local traditions were enhanced and transformed by the influence of foreign artists
from countries that remained linked to the Spanish crown for political or religious reasons. At this time
the Spanish monarchy was the political linchpin of Western Europe. In Italy, Naples and Sicily were
governed by Spanish viceroys and Spain had privileged trading relations with Milan, Genoa, Tuscany
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and Mantua. In the final years of the sixteenth century the Spanish monarchs also exerted political
power in the southern Netherlands, thereby guaranteeing their presence and influence in Europe. The
collections amassed by the kings of Spain brought works by the finest artists of the day to the royal
institutions and led to the creation of many similar collections among the nobility and religious orders.
However, in the early decades of the seventeenth century Spain’s power and presence in Europe were
weakened by lengthy wars. These conflicts led to the gradual separation of regions that had hitherto
been open to Spanish influence. The effects of this trend were felt not only in Spain but across the
Continent. The different nationalities of which Europe was composed were becoming consolidated,
leading each nation to assert its own political, cultural and artistic identity. Foreign ideas of all kinds
were regarded with suspicion, or at best with caution. This trend became even more marked with the
Thirty Years War (1618–48), when intra-European borders were being established. In literature these
years saw the emergence of Spain’s most remarkable authors, including Miguel de Cervantes (1547–
1616) and Félix Lope de Vega (1562–1635). New mystical perspectives were opened up by Saint Teresa
of Ávila (1515–1582) and Saint John of the Cross (1542–1591) and were brilliantly reflected in the visual
arts. The monarchy had acted vigilantly to preserve Spain from what were regarded as negative
influences by distancing itself from the other countries of Europe, although the Spanish monarchs,
particularly Philip IV, continued to feel nothing but admiration for the great masters. However, the
numbers of foreign artists coming to Spain were greatly reduced and foreign influences were adapted to
suit the new approaches of Spanish art. The most important Spanish artists reacted to this situation by
asserting their own personalities and developing their own individual styles.
There was another factor that played a crucial role in the development of art in both Spain and elsewhere
in Catholic Europe: the ideas spread by the Council of Trent through the decree of 1563 On The
Invocation, Veneration, And Relics Of Saints, And On Sacred. Images played a founding role in the
development of the artistic principles of the Spanish Baroque, notably in the painting of Zurbarán. The
Council had turned its attention to the utility of art, which was to create images that offer a link and
means of communication between human beings and God. The decree advocated the use of images of
Christ, the Virgin and saints, not because of their intrinsic artistic value but in the name of those they
represented. The high value given to images thus stemmed from the originals depicted in them. The aim
was to use depictions of different moments in the history of salvation to instruct and affirm the faith of
the people, who would be reminded of the articles of faith, the exemplary nature of the saints and the
miracles worked through them by God. Images were to provide examples for the faithful to live by, to
reinforce their adoration and love of God and encourage them to behave piously. The Council was
concerned that invocations of the saints and the veneration of relics should not lead to images expressing
false dogma and superstition, and that images of ‘outrageous beauty’ should not be used. The bishops
had the task of overseeing the application of these requirements in order to banish all that was
disorderly, out of place, profane or dishonest. So at this time art became a goad to faith, a vector of
knowledge and ultimately a means for bringing people closer to God. Consequently it needed to be
simple, direct, instructive and moving, and to encourage devotion. The provisions of the decree were
manifested in different ways at different times, since it had not established any concrete stylistic or
aesthetic criteria, but confined itself to defining the function of sacred images. Specific instructions were
left to the patrons, artists and scholars, and, to a lesser extent, the Church hierarchy.
This said, painters of the time were required to respond to the provisions of the Council of Trent and the
painting of Zurbarán is one consequence of this situation. In Spain, as in other European countries,
painting developed in schools, each of which reacted to different factors. Sevillian painting emerged at
the intersection of Italian influences brought by Luis de Zurbarán (1598~1664) Vargas and Flemish
Mannerism introduced by Pedro de Campaña (Pieter de Kempeneer) and his collaborators. In the early
decades of the seventeenth century the influence of Francisco Pacheco was felt primarily in the
theoretical domain and produced it finest fruits in the work of the young Velázquez and Alonso Cano. In
the first quartervof the century aesthetic norms in Seville were defined by the painting of Juan de Roelas.
So here we have a brief sketch of the Sevillian artistic context in which Zurbarán emerged.
5
ARTISTIC BIOGRAP HY
Zurbarán’s biography is known to us today through the work of scholars with a particular interest in his
work. Their close examination of the archives and other avenues of research have proved fruitful. María
Luisa Caturla was the first to embark on this immense task in the years 1940–90. She was followed by
Odile Delenda, who published the reference work on Zurbarán the man, his work and his followers in
2009. We are fortunate that she has continued to work in this area. Zurbarán was born in 1598 in Fuente
de Cantos, a small town in Extremadura, between Madrid and Lisbon. This was a disadvantaged region
due to low population density and was suffering from further depopulation and economic decline.
Fuente de Cantos was a rural centre with little to offer a budding artist. Zurbarán’s father, of Basque
lineage and from a hidalgo family, had moved there in 1548. He was a merchant and sufficiently
prosperous to be a respectable property owner. The young painter left for Seville in 1614. There is
documentary evidence that he was apprenticed for three years from 15 January 1614 in the studio of
Pedro de Villanueva, a painter whose work is no longer known and of whom almost every trace has
disappeared. At the end of his apprenticeship Zurbarán did not take the master painter’s xamination,
perhaps because he planned to move to Llerena, a village not too far from Fuente de Cantos, where his
wife’s family lived in relative comfort.
At the age of nineteen he had married Maria Páez Jiménez, his senior by nine years, and his eldest
daughter was christened Maria in 1618. Her birth was followed by that of Juan (1620), who later became
a known painter of still lifes with an eclectic personality, and lastly by that of Isabel Paula (1623).
Zurbarán’s wife died a few months after Isabel’s birth. In the meantime, Zurbarán had started to receive
commissions from within the region and, in 1622, he signed a contract for an altarpiece for the altar of
the Virgin in the Church of Our Lady of Granada in Fuente de Cantos. As was usual, the contract was for
the sculptures and gilding as well as the altarpiece. An artist from Mérida was subcontracted to carve
the sculptures, which were then painted by Zurbarán. Two years later we know of another commission
for a life-size sculpture of the Crucifixion for the village of Azuaga, some distance to the east of Llerena.
These commissions supplemented Zurbarán’s initial training with practical experience that was
undoubtedly useful to him in developing his painting. Sadly, no work from this period has survived.
THE MOVE TO SEVILLE
Zurbarán soon made contacts in Seville, a city with a sphere of
influence extending to the far south of Extremadura. On 17 January
1626, still described as a ‘neighbour from Llerena’, he signed a
contract in Seville for twenty-one paintings on the theme of the life of
Saint Dominic and the Fathers and Doctors of the Church for the
Dominican Convent of St Paul. Three paintings of the Church Fathers
have survived from this first Sevillian commission: Saint Jerome,
Saint Ambrose and Saint Gregory (Seville, Museo de Bellas Artes),
which formerly decorated the walls of the sacristy.
The highly expressive figures are shrouded in darkness, the boundless
space around them contrasting. With the striking focus on the
material qualities of the liturgical garments, which distracts some
attention from the faces. These works already show the features that
were to characterize all of Zurbarán’s later work: the use of light to
Image 3
create three-dimensional shapes, the precise description of physical
substances and a quest for the essence and the substantiality of the
motifs, which is conveyed through apparently secondary elements. This commission also comprised The
Miraculous Healing of the Blessed Reginald of Orleans and Saint Dominic in Soriano (Seville, Santa
María Magdalena).
6
The composition of these paintings is quite different, with figures that fill the canvas along a single plane,
facing the viewer. Alongside the master’s hand, clearly present in the poetic composition of the scenes,
a few details allow us to infer the involvement of a studio. But it is The Crucifixion (The Art Institute of
Chicago), painted in 1627 for the wall of the Sala de Profundis oranteroom adjoining the sacristy, that
attracted the most attention. This was the first worked signed by Zurbarán. The body of the dead Christ
is given form entirely by means of the light coming from a small open window in a side wall. This
painting, characterized by a serene pathos, led to commissions from other religious orders in Seville. In
1628 Zurbarán began to create works for many of the buildings at the Convent of the Merced Calzada de
la Asunción, which has lost none of its splendour and now houses Seville’s Museo de Bellas Artes. He
was commissioned to provide twenty-two paintings for the second cloister — to be painted in one year
and for far more payment than he had received for the commission for the Convent of St Paul — on the
life of Saint Peter Nolasco, founder of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, who was canonized
on 30 September 1628.
The pieces were to be painted in the convent itself, which required Zurbarán to move to Seville with his
assistants and all the necessary equipment. We do not know the names of the members of his studio,
nor whether it was already established when Zurbarán moved to the city. Corroboration of this
contractual requirement is provided by the importance given to the studio in Zurbarán’s mode of
production. In the same year he signed Saint Serapion (Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum), which shows
the quality of which Zurbarán was capable. Of the twenty-two paintings commissioned, half have been
identified: The Virgin Appearing to Saint Peter Nolasco (private collection), The Departure of Saint
Peter Nolasco for Barcelona (Mexico City, Museo Franz Mayer), The Apostle Saint Peter Appearing to
Saint Peter Nolasco, signed in 1629 (Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado), The Vision of Saint Peter
Nolasco (Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado), The Presentation of the Image of the Virgin of El Puig to
King James I of Aragon, signed in 1630 (The Cincinnati Art Museum), and The Surrender of Seville
(UK, private collection0). The rest of the cycle, comprising works painted without the direct involvement
of Zurbarán, is now in Seville Cathedral. Zurbarán’s development can be seen very clearly when these
works are compared with those painted shortly before for the Convent of St Paul. Rudimentary
compositions have been superseded by a greater range of techniques.
Image 4
These paintings, which are based on
engravings after drawings made in Rome by
the Spanish painter Jusepe Martínez in 1627,
were hung on the cloister walls as exemplary
models for the monastery’s monks and
novices. This was not the first cycle to depict
the life of Saint Peter Nolasco. In 1601 Alonso
Vázquez had begun work on a cycle for the
same monastery, later completed by Francisco
Pacheco in 1603. Juan de Roelas and a large
studio of collaborators had also created a cycle
of paintings on the lives of martyred monks,
which had been hung in the monastery’s inner
courtyards and galleries. A document of 1730
provides a description of the monastery,
including the works by Zurbarán that it
contained.
This document also mentions two paintings in the monastery’s church and eight oval paintings depicting
saints who founded religious orders, of a kind produced by Zurbarán’s studio in some series. None of
these paintings has been preserved. The ante-refectory contained two portraits of Mercedarians
identified as those of Saint Serapion and Saint Carmelo. A copy of the latter was recently published.
The room known as the Board Room was thought to contain a group of paintings of venerable brothers,
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notably including Brother Hernando de Santiago (Madrid, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San
Fernando) and The Venerable Brother Jerónimo Carmelo (Madrid, Church of Santa Barbara). These
works are among Zurbarán’s finest. The view that these paintings hung in the Board Room was refuted
by Guinard, who placed them in the library and suggested that the Board Room contained two works by
the studio: Saint Carmelo and Saint Peter Paschal (Seville, Museo de Bellas Artes). The 1628 contract
makes no mention of the eleven paintings of monks in the library, where they were seen by Ceán
Bermúdez. As Delenda observes, they may however have completed the contracted total of twenty-two
works on the life of Saint Peter Nolasco, which were not ultimately painted — plus Christ Crucified with
Maestro Fray Silvestre de Saavedra at His Feet, which is now lost. It would have been logical for monks
known for their writings and erudition to have been included in this space. They notably included
Brother Jerónimo Pérez, Brother Pedro Machado, Brother Francisco Zumel (all in Madrid, Real
Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando) and Brother Pedro de Oña (Seville City Hall). Vázquez’s
memoir of 1730 describes more works: ‘Placed in the Relics chapel was a painting of Our Lady in a crown
of roses with her most holy Son. It is by Zurbarán.’ The most notable version of this image is in Seville
Cathedral. Zurbarán’s work at the convent continued over time and evolved as the construction work
advanced.
This may be because a certain Brother Sebastián de Zurbarán, a native of
Fuente de Cantos and related to the painter, was teaching there in June
1630. Religious establishments continued to grow apace in Seville. The
enthusiasm that had founded the religious orders was supplemented by
the desire of the nobility and merchant classes to be part of the
movement. This was notably true of the College of St Bonaventure,
whose activities were supported by two families of Corsican origin, the
Casuches and the Mañaras. When the building work was completed in
1626, the painter Francisco de Herrera the Elder was commissioned to
create the internal architecture and decoration of the church, on the
recommendation of one of the college’s erudite monks. One of Herrera’s
tasks, beginning on 1 January 1628, was to create six paintings on the
theme of the life of Saint Bonaventure for the nave of the convent’s
church. For reasons that remain unclear, four of the paintings remained
Image 5
unfinished and Zurbarán was called in to complete the commission. The
first of his paintings was signed in 1629. The themes depicted by
Zurbarán show the saint in maturity and death: Saint Bonaventure Reveals the Crucifix to Saint Thomas
Aquinas, signed in 1629 (Berlin, Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, destroyed in 1945), Saint Bonaventure
Speaks at the Council of Lyons, Saint Bonaventure’s Body Lying in State (both in Paris, Musée du
Louvre) and Saint Bonaventure and the Angel (Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister).
Hung high on the Epistle wall of the collegiate church, above the arches between the nave and aisles,
Zurbarán’s paintings completed the decorative cycle begun in 1627 by Herrera the Elder, which depicted
the first half of the saint’s life and hung on the opposite wall. The nearly square format of these paintings
and the fact that the works by Herrera the Elder were already in existence undoubtedly influenced the
approach of Zurbarán, who created more ambitious compositions, as the scenes required, while
maintaining a dramatic use of light.
In a contract dated 26 September 1629, the Trinitarian Order, which had built a convent outside the city,
commissioned an altarpiece depicting Saint Joseph from the unknown artist Pedro Calderón, who hired
Zurbarán to execute the paintings. The altarpiece, which was in one of the church aisles, is known only
through period descriptions lacking in detail. Referred to for the first time as a ‘master painter of the
city of Seville’, Zurbarán was busy with work for the Mercedarians and the College of St Bonaventure
and had to adapt by expanding his studio in order to carry out the new commission. The cycle has been
reconstructed through research linking a number of scattered works of related style, size and imagery.
The Christ Child (Moscow, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, cat. 24) hung on the tabernacle door,
8
where Ceán Bermúdez saw and admired it. Odile Delenda recently suggested that Zurbarán may have
had a collaborator whom she calls the Master of Besançon, and who painted most of the cycle in which
— according to her highly plausible hypotheses — Zurbarán played only a minor role.
The altarpiece comprises several scenes from the life of the Holy Family: The Presentation of the Virgin
in the Temple (Madrid, San Lorenzo de El Escorial), The Adoration of the Shepherds (Geneva, private
collection), The Adoration of the Magi (Barcelona, private collection), The Flight into Egypt (Besançon,
Musée des Beaux-Arts, fig. 50), The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (location unknown) and Jesus
among the Doctors (Seville, Museo de Bellas Artes). The altarpiece was perhaps surmounted by The
Two Trinities, a large painting that has been shown at the Piero Corsini Gallery, New York.
MAJOR COMMISSIONS IN SEVILLE
Zurbarán’s growing prestige led the city council in
Seville to invite him to settle permanently in the city
with his family in July 1629. This invitation,
instigated by the councillor Rodrigo Suárez and based
on the masterly qualities of the paintings of Mercy
and Christ in the Convent of St Paul, unleashed a
dispute with the corporation of painters, as Zurbarán
denied that he needed to take the master’s
examination. The city council supported him with a
commission of 8 June 1630 for an Immaculate
Conception — most probably that of the diocesan
museum of Sigüenza — a theme that was not yet part
of Catholic dogma, but an expression of the popular
immaculist doctrine, which the council had
undertaken to promote.
In the same period the Jesuits and Capuchins of Jerez
commissioned Zurbarán to paint works with similar
characteristics: The Vision of Blessed Alonso
Rodríguez (Madrid, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de
Image 6
San Fernando), signed in 1630, and The Miracle of
the Porziuncola (Cádiz, Museo de Cádiz). The two works show clear similarities of composition, with the
saint portrayed in the lower section, addressing the heavens in a theatrical pose, with architecture of
uncertain perspective in the background. The saint’s aspirations are represented by the presence of
Christ and the Virgin in splendour, conveyed in delicate golden tones, surrounded by angels.
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A commission for the College of St Thomas in Seville was to prove crucial to
Zurbarán’s career. It came from the Dominican Order that had attracted the
painter to the city. To hold their own against the rival College of St
Bonaventure, the Dominicans wanted to present the Doctor of the Church of
St Thomas Aquinas as an example for university studies. The contract of 1631
required Zurbarán and the carpenter Jeronimo Vela to create an altarpiece
with a large painting for the chapel’s high altar, in six months and in
accordance with instructions from the rector of the college. The predella
comprised six paintings depicting Dominican saints. Nothing is known of
these paintings, whose compositions were not stipulated in the contract.
There are two extant versions from this college of the portrait of its founder,
Diego de Deza. The main theme of the altarpiece was The Apotheosis of Saint
Thomas Aquinas (Seville, Museo de Bellas Artes), a large work (486 x 385
cm) showing Saint Thomas as a Doctor of the Church inspired by the Holy
Spirit and surrounded by the holy fathers of the western Church: Augustine,
Gregory, Jerome and Ambrose. In the lower section, Charles I and Diego de
Deza are surrounded by secondary figures, a view of the college and the
depiction of its founding papal bull.
Image 7
The painting uses eloquent images drawing on the popular visual culture of the theatre to represent the
Dominican Order and the college, together with Saint Thomas Aquinas, as repositories and propagators
of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and the Church. This was the most highly remunerated work of its time
and its high quality led to further commissions. While Zurbarán had undoubtedly fulfilled the terms of
the contract, his interpretation of the themes surprised even those who had commissioned the piece. It
may be, as has been suggested recently, that this set of 1works also included the two magnificent
paintings of The Archangel Gabriel (Montpellier, Musée Fabre) and Saint Andrew (Budapest,
Szépművészeti Múzeum). In the years after his work at the College of St Thomas, Zurbarán received
further commissions from other religious communities, but for less ambitious projects, such as the
paintings for the College of St Albert in around 1632–33, for which Zurbarán painted four single figures:
Saint Peter Thomas, Saint Cyril of Constantinople (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts), Saint Blaise
(Bucharest, Muzeul Naţional de Artă al României) and Saint Francis of Assisi (St. Louis, Saint Louis Art
Museum).
MYSTICAL PAINTING
Image 8
In the years before his move to the Spanish royal court,
Zurbarán painted a series of works unrelated to any cycles or
grand themed series, in which he developed his own stylistic
ideas. The clear compositions show solidly drawn figures
standing out against dark backgrounds that surround them
with empty space, bringing sharp definition to their forms. The
light bathing figures and objects highlights the details of their
substance, which Zurbarán depicts with minute precision. Most
of these works are devotional paintings manifesting a highly
developed poetic sense; they express profound meanings and a
particular appreciation of simple things. Unlike the emblems
that had been carefully developed over preceding decades, the
symbolism here reflects popular culture and a widely shared
piety. Zurbarán’s work is in part a poetic, silent and suggestive
communication of spiritual feeling and profound, intuitive
10
knowledge; the scenes and objects act to stimulate the imagination in order to develop mental prayer
and the ‘eye of the imagination’, as advocated by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Notable among the works
from this period are those that reveal Zurbarán’s interest in childlike figures whose innocence acts as a
filter for profound spirituality.
One of his preferred themes, which he began to cultivate in these years, was the representation of the
Virgin as a young girl, little more than a child, versions of which can be seen in the Prado, the Museu
Nacional d’Art de Catalunya and in an undated painting in the Arango collection. The Immaculate
Conception of Sigüenza, mentioned above, is one of his most successful works on this theme. Other
examples of particularly fine compositions from these years, inspired by the candour of Jesus or the
Virgin as a child, include The Holy Family and Saint John the Baptist as a Child (collection of the
Marquesses of Campo Real) and Family of the Virgin (Abelló collection), in which the Virgin is shown
as a child with her parents. A few years later, the Virgin as a child became the single theme of exquisitely
delicate works, such as the child Virgin of Jerez Cathedral, now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, or that of the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, which dates from Zurbarán’s years in
Madrid. Like other manifestations of Zurbarán’s innovative imagery, this subject remained in great
demand and was widely interpreted by his followers. Other examples include The Boy Jesus with a
Thorn (Seville, Museo de Bellas Artes) and The House in Nazareth (Madrid, Fondo Cultural Villar Mir,
cat. 25), two similar subjects in which Zurbarán uses a domestic, childhood scene toforeshadow the
Passion of Christ.
This period also saw the emergence of one of Zurbarán’s
most eloquent interpretations, to which he would often
return in later years: the lamb or Agnus Dei, versions of
which notably include those of the Prado and the San
Diego Museum of Art (cat. 17). These paintings show a
lamb or calf with bound legs, standing out against a
background of total darkness, sometimes with a halo or
accompanied by words from the prophet Isaiah, so that
the image becomes a reference to the Passion of Christ.
It is to these paintings that we can best apply Guinard’s
Image 9
observation, noted by Delenda, that it is pointless to seek
to define the symbolic and religious meaning of the
image. Another highly personal theme cemented by Zurbarán during these years is that of the Holy Face
— a representation of the shroud on which, according to tradition, Christ left the imprint of his features
as he carried the Cross to Calvary. Although it was already popular throughout Europe, this imagery was
given a very personal redefinition by Zurbarán, who cultivated it throughout his life, as did his studio
and many followers after him. The earliest painting of the Holy Face was signed in 1631 (Madrid, private
collection). The version of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter in Seville follows it most closely. Zurbarán
returned to his theme again over the years, with varying degrees of assistance from the studio, but his
own interpretation remains the most striking: the trompe-l’oeil created by the fabric hanging on two
nails contrasts with the almost diaphanous print of the face of the suffering Christ, turned slightly to one
side, giving the picture the finished appearance of a reliquary or altar decoration. The success of this
painting generated a strong demand, to which Zurbarán continued to respond for the rest of his life, as
shown by the versions in the Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao, and the Museo Nacional de Escultura,
Valladolid, which was signed in 1658.
The Crucifixion painted in 1627 for the Convent of St Paul had brought Zurbarán great fame. Shown
with four nails and almost no trace of his martyrdom, it is an expression of profound thought: in this
period depictions of the crucified Christ were a matter of detailed discussion among theoreticians, with
Francisco Pacheco foremost among them. The painting’s success meant that in subsequent years
Zurbarán had to cope with the demand for pictures of a similar kind, which he sought to satisfy with the
11
help of his studio. Another notable example is the dying Christ of the Museo de Bellas Artes, Seville,
painted for the Capuchin friars, who hung it in the sacristy of their monastery.
Image 10
Zurbarán’s bodegones (the Spanish term for still-life painting) undeniably represent one of his most
original contributions to painting, although they cannot be seen as an independent genre since the
elements they present singly later appear in larger compositions. This is notably true of A Cup of Water
and a Rose on a Silver Plate (London, The National Gallery), which appears in two contemporaneous
works on the theme of Mary, giving the motif an association with the Virgin. The rose is also one of the
three elements depicted in the magnificent Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose (Pasadena,
Norton Simon Museum). Meanwhile the aligned objects of the later Still Life with Pottery Jars (Madrid,
Museo Nacional del Prado) have a remarkable presence, despite their diversity. Zurbarán’s
extraordinary ability to reproduce the various substances and surface textures of the objects gives them
an unusual dignity that contrasts with their simplicity. There is another version of this painting
(Barcelona, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya) also thought to be by Zurbarán, dating from the
painter’s later years in Seville. Beyond these paintings, the Still Life with Sweetmeats on a Silver Plate
(Spain, private collection) — the image of which appeared in an X-ray of the Pasadena still life — and
the Still Life with Dish of Quince, also in a small format, few still lifes by the master’s sole hand have
been preserved. Their small number was to some extent supplemented by Francisco’s son Juan de
Zurbarán (Llerena, 1620 – Seville, 1649), who trained in his father’s studio after the move to Seville in
1629. Care was taken over Juan’s education and he was also taught dancing and poetry. It is
understandable that, having received special treatment as a student, he later became his father’s closest
collaborator. At present his style has not been identified in the great series produced by his father’s
studio. Meanwhile Juan’s personal output is characterized by a greater complexity of forms and more
elaborate compositions than appear in his father’s work. The influence of Flemish and Italian still lifes,
notably those of Juan van der Hamen y León, and crucially the artistic links between Juan de Zurbarán
and bodegón-painter Pedro de Camprobín, have caused the objects he depicts to lose a degree of life and
immediacy in the service of the overall composition, which is more diverse and shows such greater
movement.
THE COURT IN MADRID
In June 1634 Zurbarán was called to the court to work on the decoration of the Buen Retiro Palace,
which had been opened in the previous year as an element of propaganda for King Philip IV, whose
power was starting to decline. Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares and a native of Seville, had
been counting on Velázquez to work at court, but the scale of the new project required contributions
from other artists, and it may have been through Velázquez that Zurbarán was called in. The Great Salon
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needed to be completed before June 1635, with portraits of the kings and depictions of their great and
glorious exploits, recent victories and the legendary kinship between Hercules and the Spanish
monarchy. The front walls of the Salon were hung with the five royal portraits by Velázquez — who was
in Seville in the spring of 1635. The twelve victories of the armies of Philip IV, painted by the greatest
Spanish artists of the day, decorated the two side walls, while ten Labours of Hercules by Zurbarán were
hung in the spaces above the windows. Like Velázquez in his Triumph of Bacchus of 1628–1629 and
Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan of 1630, Zurbarán took a naturalist approach to his mythological hero,
portraying him as a vigorous human being engaged in extraordinary tasks, far from the idealized image
of classical culture.
The two historical scenes painted by Zurbarán were The Defence of Cádiz against the English (Madrid,
Museo Nacional del Prado), and The Marquis of Caldereita Commanding a Fleet. Only the Defence has
survived. This first history painting led the artist far from his religious themes, requiring him to depict
an event that had occurred only ten years previously. The composition is arranged in a similar manner
to most paintings in the series. The foreground is reserved for the protagonists, with the battle in the
background taking up the rest of the canvas. Zurbarán did not manage to paint many works in addition
to those for Buen Retiro during his months at court. His portrait of Don Alonso Verdugo de Albornoz
(Berlin, Gemäldegalerie), showing the clear influence of Velázquez, may have been painted in Seville.
Zurbarán’s time at court had a major effect on his style. It gave him an opportunity to study not only
Renaissance painting but, crucially, works of the Baroque, which greatly influenced him, as can be seen
notably in a softening of his contrasts of light and shade and a greater complexity of composition.
YEARS OF SUCCESS
On his return to Madrid, Zurbarán continued to carry out the
commissions he was beginning to receive primarily from the
Seville area. In 1636 he painted an altarpiece for the Church of
Our Lady of Grenada in Llerena, dominated by the Martyrdom
of Saint James (Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado). In the
following year he painted the Marchena series with assistance
from his studio, and a now lost cycle commissioned by the nuns
of Arcos de la Frontera. Before undertaking the commissions
for the Charterhouse of Jerez de la Frontera and the monastery
at Guadalupe, he worked in Seville on paintings to decorate
certain altarpieces and buildings at the Convent of the Merced
Calzada. In around 1636 the St Joseph Convent, of the Order of
the Merced Calzada, built a new church and Zurbarán was
commissioned to create the paintings for the high altar, the
arrangement of which is not precisely known, given that the
altarpiece underwent major alterations. Early descriptions
indicate that it comprised the Eternal Father (Seville, Museo
de Bellas Artes) and two saints: Saint Apollonia (Paris, Musée
du Louvre) and Saint Lucy (Chartres, Musée des Beaux-Arts),
although the two are treated very differently. It is quite possible
Image 11
that the central image of the altarpiece was Christ Crowning
Saint Joseph (Seville, Museo de Bellas Artes). The altarpieces of
the transept crossing showed Saint Anthony (Madrid, Fondo Cultural Villar Mir) and Saint Lawrence
(St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum), both of which are large, expansive paintings.
Zurbarán and his studio also created paintings for two altarpieces in the side chapels showing scenes
from the life of Saint Raymond Nonnatus and Saint Peter Nolasco, which Odile Delenda attributes to
the Master of Besançon. Also painted by Zurbarán with contributions from his assistants were nearly
13
forty paintings in the cloister showing martyrs of the Mercedarian Order. At the same time, around 1638,
Zurbarán also created the paintings for the side altarpieces of the Portaceli College in Seville. The Blessed
Henry Suso (fig. 5) and Saint Louis Bertrand (Seville, Museo de Bellas Artes) show the influence of his
time in Madrid: a new form of composition portraying a single figure against a more ample background
and using a lighter palette.
Zurbarán’s paintings for the Charterhouse of Jerez de la Frontera can perhaps be seen as the pinnacle
of his mature work. The commission included paintings for the main altarpiece, the tabernacle passage
and the altars separating the lay choir from the monks’ choir. Over time all these works were subject to
various alterations and became dispersed following the French invasion of 1812. The main altarpiece
was very large and decorated with sculptures by José de Arce and woodwork designed by Alejandro de
Saavedra. For its two vertical side sections Zurbarán painted four magnificent paintings now in the
museum of Grenoble: The Annunciation, The Adoration of the Magi and The Adoration of the
Shepherds, signed in 1638, and The Circumcision, signed in 1639. There may originally have been
paintings of the evangelists above these four works. The lower section of the main altarpiece was
dominated by The Battle between Christians and Moors at El Sotillo (New York, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art), while the upper section showed Saint Bruno (Cádiz, Museo de Cádiz).
The passage leading from the lower part of the altarpiece to the tabernacle at the back of the church,
regarded as the sanctum sanctorum, was entirely decorated with paintings. In the section closest to the
tabernacle these depicted two angels bearing thuribles and, behind them, a procession of four monks on
either side, all about half life-size. The paintings were adapted to the complex architecture of the church
and portrayed Saint Bruno, Saint Airald, Saint Anthelm, Saint Hugues, Saint Arthald, Blessed Nicholas
Albergati, Saint Hugh of Lincoln and Saint John Houghton (Cádiz, Museo de Cádiz). Zurbarán painted
other magnificent works in the same group. The Virgin of the Rosary (Poznań, Muzeum Narodowe,
Raczyński Foundation) was probably part of one of the altarpieces separating the two choirs. Nothing is
known about the original location of the slightly smaller Immaculate Conception with Saint Joachim
and Saint Anne (Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland). At this time Zurbarán was working on both
major commissions and majestic altar paintings such as Saint Romanus of Antioch and Saint Barulas
(The Art Institute of Chicago) and works of high quality such as Saint Francis (London, The National
Gallery) and The Supper at Emmaus (Mexico City, Museo Nacional de San Carlos). The splendid
collection of the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Guadalupe in Extremadura was the other great
commission that Zurbarán completed outside Seville during this period. In 1639, following the
renovation of the monastery sacristy, he began work on eight large paintings. These works, unlike those
previously mentioned, have remained intact in the place where they were painted. As revealed by their
technique, pressure of deadlines obliged Zurbarán to call on his studio for help. The painters portrayed
venerable brothers of the Hieronymite Order, including Gonzalo de Illescas and Christ Appearing to
Brother Andrew Salmerón. On the side walls of a chapel behind the sacristy, watched over by the Saint
Jerome carved by Torrigiano, are two large paintings of the most representative scenes of the saint’s life:
The Temptation of Saint Jerome and The Flagellation of Saint Jerome by the Angels, while in the attic
of the altarpiece a smaller painting shows Saint Jerome in glory. These works were painted at a later
date, around 1645. But Zurbarán’s oeuvre culminated in two paintings of a style that enables them to be
dated to the late 1650s, a period when he was already living in Madrid. Less grandiose than those of the
sacristy, they represent Saint Ildefonso Receiving the Chasuble and Saint Nicholas of Bari. These two
works are characterized by a softer, less austere approach to their subjects.
Another commission Zurbarán received from Extremadura in 1643 was the altarpiece of the Virgin of
Mercy for the church in Zafra. This sober, slender group has been preserved in situ and comprises ten
paintings whose figures appear lengthened, apparently to meet the requirements of the composition and
format. The palette softens as the eye rises, with a particularly luminous upper section depicting Saint
Michael and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino and, in the attic, The Holy Family. The portrait of the male
patron — the only piece by Zurbarán’s own hand — is masterly in its technique. The first section portrays
Saint John the Baptist and Saint Jerome, each again in a vertical compartment. The contribution to this
14
group made by Zurbarán’s assistants shows that, as time went by, his output was dependent on an evergrowing and more diverse studio. In 1644 Zurbarán married his third wife, Leonor Tordera, who had
also been widowed and with whom he had six children. At the same time the commissions that had
brought him renown and prosperity were drying up. After completing the paintings for Santa Maria de
Guadalupe, Zurbarán concentrated on painting series of lower quality that had not been commissioned
but were mostly sold as completed works.
NEW MODES OF ARTISTIC PRODUCTION : THE SERIES
Several documents attest to Zurbarán’s sustained relationship with the New World. There are instances
of commissions and payments pending. Most relate to different kinds of groups and even batches of
pictures. Examples include a commission of 1647 for a batch of paintings for the church of the Monastery
of the Incarnation in Lima, and efforts to obtain payment for a series of twelve equestrian portraits of
Caesar. What is really interesting in these series is that they bear witness to the creative freedom that
Zurbarán had attained, despite the involvement of the studio and the uneven quality of the works. The
paintings and series depicting female saints, of which Saint Margaret of Antioch (London, The National
Gallery) is a particularly fine example, reflect one of Zurbarán’s major innovations, in which he
established a model that his studio could then reproduce with varying degrees of involvement from the
master himself. Another recurrent theme of these series relates to the medieval Spanish romanceros —
particularly the legends of the seven infants of Lara and the seven archangels of Palermo — which were
amazingly popular in America. A classic example is the Saint Michael preserved in the Santander
Collection of the Banco Santander Foundation. The paintings for the altarpiece of Saint Peter in Seville
Cathedral and the altarpiece of the Church of St Stephen are also both from this period, though the
precise dates cannot be identified, and were created in collaboration with members of Zurbarán’s studio.
The paintings for the sacristy in the Charterhouse of Our Lady of the Caves in Seville (now in the Museo
de Bellas Artes, Seville) constitute one of Zurbarán’s most personal series, showing no trace of any hand
but his own. Each picture was painted for a particular wall in a small space. All are ‘full of bravura and
tenderness’ as a chronicler of the period put it, and each depicts a particular aspect of Carthusian
spirituality.
The Virgin of the Caves represents the protection afforded to the Order by the Holy Virgin, Saint Bruno
Visits Pope Urban II portrays the exemplary humility of the founding saint and Saint Hugh of Grenoble
in the Carthusian Refectory explains the mysterious origin of the monks’ rule of abstaining from eating
meat. The decorative plasters by the sculptor Pedro Roldán were made in 1655, but opinions differ as
to the date that the commission was completed. The most recent suggestions9 tend to date the work to
around 1655, based mainly on indirect documentary references as the contract has not survived.
Nevertheless, certain aspects of the composition and technique provide convincing arguments in favour
of a much earlier date, of around 1635.
15
LAST YEARS IN MADRID
Zurbarán moved to Madrid in 1658 and died
there in 1664. There were almost certainly a
number of motives for the major change
represented by this move. The mid-century saw
the collapse of the American market and with
wars in Europe, which were not favourable to
trade, Seville went into severe economic decline.
The epidemic of bubonic plague in 1649, in which
Juan de Zurbarán died, considerably reduced the
city’s population and put a sudden brake on all
activities other than the burying of the dead, the
feeding of the living and the preparation of souls.
At the artistic level, when Francisco de Herrera
the Younger returned to Seville after training in
Italy and years of work in Madrid, it became
obvious that Zurbarán’s style was entirely foreign
to the new aesthetics of the High Baroque that
had now reached Seville. Lastly, the appearance
on the Sevillian artistic scene of painters such as
Juan de Valdés Leal and in particular the young
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, who received the few
remaining commissions, meant that Zurbarán,
Image 12
who still had a family to feed, was obliged to
change cities and seek out new clients. From
1658 Zurbarán’s paintings reflect a blatant change of direction. Firstly, he was manifestly seeking to
adapt his style to the new aesthetics: his painting becomes more tender and emotional, the palette is
softer and more harmonious, abandoning the high contrast of light and shade that had brought him
fame at the start of his career.
Most of the works are smaller devotional paintings dominated by themes appropriate to the genre:
likeable depictions of the Virgin and Child, sometimes accompanied by a young Saint John the Baptist,
as in Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist (San Diego Museum of Art); scenes showing the Holy
Family, such as Rest during the Flight into Egypt (Budapest, Szépművészeti Múzeum; the very young
Virgin of the Immaculate Conception of the church at Langon, France. Devotional themes included
depictions of saints such as Saint Francis de Paul, Saint Catherine and Saint Francis of Assisi. In relation
to the latter, we should note the splendid version in Munich and the recent discovery in a Spanish private
collection. With the exception of the commission he shared with Alonso Cano for the chapel of the
Franciscan Convent of Alcalá de Henares, Zurbarán devoted his final years to serene, intimist painting
of a style that can be followed through to the last of his signed works, Virgin, Child and Saint John
(Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes), painted in 1662. After this, Zurbarán fell ill and died on 27 August 1664.
(Translation Trista Selous ; editing Lise Connellan)
16
CREDITS
Image 1
Francisco de Zurbarán, Saint Casilda ca. 1635 oil on canvas, 171 x 107 cm, Inv. 448 (1979.26), Madrid, Museo
Thyssen-Bornemisza
Image 2
Francisco de Zurbarán, Agnus dei ca. 1635-1640 Oil on canvas, 35,56 x 52, 07cm, Inv. 1947.36, The San Diego
Museum of Art, gift of Anne R. and Amy Putnam
Image 3
Francisco de Zurbarán, Saint Gregory, ca. 1626-1627, Oil on canvas, 198 x 125 cm, Inv. CE0171P, Sevilla, Museo
de Bellas Artes
Image 4
Francisco de Zurbarán, Saint Peter Nolasco’s Vision, 1629, Oil on canvas, 179 x 223 cm
Inv. P1236, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
Image 5
Francisco de Zurbarán, Fray Jerónimo Pérez, ca. 1632-1634, Oil on canvas, 193 x 122 cm,
Inv. 667, Madrid, Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
Image 6
Francisco de Zurbarán, The Immaculate Conception, ca. 1635, Oil on canvas, 174 x 138 cm,
Inv. 35, Sigüenza, Museo Diocesiano (Fundación Perlado Verdugo, Jadraque)
Image 7
Francisco de Zurbarán, Saint Gabriel the Archangel, ca. 1631-1632, Oil on canvas, 146.5 x 61.5 c, Inv. 852.1.2,
Montpellier, Musée Fabre
Image 8
Francisco de Zurbarán, The Young Virgin Asleep, ca. 1655-60, Oil on canvas, 109 x 90 cm
Jerez de la Frontera, Catedral de San Salvador, Cabildo
Image 9
Francisco de Zurbarán, The House of Nazareth, ca. 1644-1645, Oil on canvas, 151.2 x 204.8 cm, Madrid, Fondo
Cultural Villar Mir
Image 10
Francisco de Zurbarán, A Cup of Water and a Rose, ca. 1630 Oil on canvas, 21,2 x 30,1 cm Inv. NG6566 London,
The National Gallery
Image 11
Francisco de Zurbarán , The Virgin of the Rosary with Carthusians, ca. 1638-1639, Oil on canvas, 325 x 190 cm,
Inv. MNP FR 433, Poznań, Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu (Raczyński Foundation)
Image 12
Francisco de Zurbarán, The Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist, 1662, Oil on canvas, 169 x 127 cm, Inv.
69/249, Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes
17
THE CURATORS
IGNACIO CANO RIVERO, CURATOR
Ignacio Cano Rivero, former director (2003-2007) and actual chief curator of the Museo de Bellas Artes
in Seville, is a specialist in Sevillian painting and Spain’s Golden Age. He has published on Zurbarán and
has carried out research at the Department of Baroque Painting in the National Gallery in London. Cano
has co-organised groundbreaking exhibitions such as "Manet and Velázquez: The French Taste for
Spanish Painting" at the MET in New York and "Zurbarán: IV centenario" in Seville (1998).
GABRIELE FINALDI, ADVISOR
Gabriele Finaldi, Associate Director of Conservation and Research at the Museo Nacional del Prado in
Madrid, is regarded as one of the leading experts on Spanish and Italian painting. He has organised
major international exhibitions and published in-depth studies of painters such as Ribera, Zurbarán,
and Velázquez. He spent ten years as curator of Italian and Spanish painting at the National Gallery in
London. In 2002 he was appointed to the post of Associate Director of Conservation and Research at
the Prado, where he oversaw a thorough reorganisation and expansion of the museum's permanent
collection.
18
CRAIGIE HORSFIELD
29.01 > 25.05.2014
Craigie Horsfield has been instrumental in the current renaissance of Flemish tapestry. "The
Archiconfraternity of Santa Monica" concerns Horsfields notions of slow time and of a deep present
within the concept of relation. Tapestry for Horsfield has a social connotation in which the threads are
imagined as being like the weaving together of innumerable lives in a community, each thread remaining
distinct and yet being understood in their relation with each other. Here the fabric of the depicted robes
is reconstituted in the actual fabric of the tapestry. Horsfield was influenced by Zurbaran's painting of
St Francis in which the roughly sewn and worn fabric of the monk's habit is depicted with such graphic
intensity that the material itself comes to constitute the sense of presence and the fervent singularity of
Zurbarán's work. Horsfield makes the connection of this intense materiality, and of the fluency of a deep
present, with the work of Christina Iglesias in which history invests the present as a living energy.
Craigie Horsfield (born 1949 in Cambridge) lives and works in London, New York and Naples. He
participated in Documenta X and XI (Kassel, 1997, 2002), the Whitney Biennial (New York, 2004) and
the Carnegie International (Pittsburg 1995). More recent solo exhibitions have included the Kunsthalle
Basel (Basel, 2012), M HKA (Antwerp, 2011), Museo di Capodimonte, (Naples, 2008), Museum of
Contemporary Art (Sydney, 2007), Jeu de Paume (Paris, 2006), Centro de Arte Moderna – Fundacao
Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon, 2006); His work is in many public collections (including the Tate
Gallery, London; Whitney Museum, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Museum of Modern
Art, San Francisco and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam), along with private collections
worldwide.
CRISTINA IGLESIAS
29.01 > 25.05.2014
From the moment that her work was first exhibited in the mid-1980s, the artist Cristina Iglesias has
been exploring key issues relating to sculpture, as an object itself, but also in its relationship with space
and architecture. Using concrete, iron, alabaster, stained glass, and textiles, Iglesias constructs shallow
shelters that rely on existing architectural elements of a given space. Her art works, like the vegetation
rooms, suspended ceilings and hanging corridors, offer places for reflective viewing and suggest that our
understanding of the natural order and our place within it can never be taken for granted.
In Belgium, Iglesias is mostly known by her work “Deep Fountain”, installed on the Leopold De
Waelplaats in front of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp.
Cristina Iglesias (b. 1956, San Sebastian, Spain. Lives and works in Madrid.) has participated in a
number of international exhibitions and represented Spain at the 1986 and 1993 Venice Biennale.
Recent solo exhibitions include “Metonomy” at the Reina Sofia Madrid (2012), Pinacoteca Sao Paolo
(2009), Ludwig Museum (2006) and Guggenheim New York (1997).
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THE EAR OF ZURBARAN
On the occasion of the exhibition devoted to Zurbarán, BOZAR invites the public to discover his sound
world through a cycle of concerts, a CD (a brand new production with the Cypres label, featuring the
Huelgas Ensemble), a number of evening concerts at the heart of the exhibition, and listening points
throughout the exhibition itself.
29.01 > 26.05.2014
INTIMACY WITH THE SACRED
Francisco de Zurbarán's extensive, contemplative oeuvre is steeped in mysticism. His art is a
transfiguration of the real and creates a powerful emotional intimacy with the sacred. Audiences will be
able to share this emotion thanks to the dialogue between Zurbarán's works and a cycle of concerts, "The
intimate and the sacred", organised in conjunction with the exhibition, which will continue until 26 May.
This profound interior experience of the sacred is something that many composers have sought to
express in their works. From Byrd to Handel, sacred music from the 16th century to the 18th will take
you on a spiritual journey in the company of ensembles such as Le Cercle de l'Harmonie and the Huelgas
Ensemble and of talented artists such as René Jacobs and Paul Van Nevel.
Full details of the programme for the concert cycle "The intimate and the sacred" can be found on our
website.
THE EAR OF ZURBARÁN: THE ALBUM
BOZAR is delighted to join forces with the Cypres label and the
Huelgas Ensemble for the production of a CD that gives musical
expression to Zurbarán's mysticism. What was Francisco de
Zurbarán's sound world? Paul Van Nevel and the Huelgas Ensemble
have sought to explore the painter's musical world by imagining what
kind of music he might have heard in 17th-century Seville and Madrid.
Their disc, accompanied by a booklet, presents a selection of both
sacred and secular works, at times archaic, at times modern. It aims to
show how music and painting spring from the same vision of the
world, offering the viewer-listener the keys to understanding a time
dominated by mysticism. On 26 May, to bring the concert cycle "The
intimate and the sacred" to a close, the audience will be treated to a live performance of this musical
programme, which has been conceived as an intimate dialogue with the exhibition.
Coproduction : BOZAR MUSIC | Cypres-Records | Huelgas Ensemble
Price : €18,00 (- €2,00 for BOZARfriends), on sale at the BOZARBOUTIK
20
MUSIC AT THE HEART OF THE EXHIBITION
CONCERTS
In order to offer the public a complete aesthetic and sensory experience, BOZAR MUSIC will present
concerts at the heart of the exhibition during the late openings on Thursday evenings. These concerts,
performed in a room devoted exclusively to music, will present the rich musical repertoire of Zurbarán's
time, made up for the most part of vocal polyphony and largely unfamiliar to today's audiences. The
concerts are also an educational project, as they will be played by young musicians from a number of
conservatories, including students from the early-music class of the Royal Conservatory in Brussels and
from the Conservatoire de Lyon. Students from a number of ensembles will benefit from special
guidance in the form of a master class led by a Belgian specialist in polyphony.
From 6.15 pm to 8.15 pm (three sessions), every Thursday during the exhibition (29 January > 25 May
2014), except during the school holidays
Free to holders of a ticket for the exhibition
LISTENING POINTS
There are three listening points located at different points along visitors' route through the exhibition,
offering them an opportunity to hear musical excerpts selected by Paul Van Nevel. These listening points
encourage contemplation, a key aspect of Zurbarán's oeuvre.
21
ALBERT SERRA
After the Pompidou Centre gave Albert Serra (°1975) “carte blanche” to prepare his own retrospective it
is now the turn of BOZAR CINEMA and CINEMATEK to extend an invitation to this Catalan filmmaker.
Serra is a remarkable figure in the world of modern cinema and has proven himself, to be an artist of
promise and interest. He makes frequent reference to history and tradition. The mysticism of the
Spanish landscape and everyday things play an essential role in his work. This is heightened by the slow
pace and reflective tone of his films, which are often stripped of dialogue and fuelled by the power of the
imagery.
PROGRAMME
31.01 - HISTÒRIA DE LA MEVA MORT DE ALBERT SERRA
(Spain, France, 2013, 148’)
Centre for Fine Arts – Hall M – 20h
Price € 10 - € 8
Language : Catalan – French subtitles
02.02 - HONOR DE CAVALLERIA
(Spain, 2006, 95’)
CINEMATEK – 19h30
Language : Catalan – French subtitles
06.02 – EL CANT DELS OCELLS
(Spain, 2008, 99’)
CINEMATEK – 21h
Language : Catalan – French subtitles
01 > 26.02 - CARTE BLANCHE ALBERT SERRA – BY ALBERT SERRA THE 01.02
(CINEMATEK)
14.03 – DISCUSSION BETWEEN ALBERT SERRA & CATHERINE
MILLET
Centre for Fine Arts – Studio
Price € 8 - € 6
Language : French
Coproduction : BOZAR LITERATURE
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CATALOGUE
On the occasion of the exhibition, BOZAR BOOKS and the Mercatorfonds are publishing a lavishly
illustrated catalogue, with contributions by Ignacio Cano Rivero (introduction and the cultural
context of Zurbarán's career), Odile Delenda (Zurbarán status quaestionis), Gabriele Finaldi
(Zurbarán and Italian painting), Benito Navarrete (Zurbarán's studio), Paolo Tanganelli (Zurbarán
as mystic), Maria del Valme Muñoz Rubio (Zurbarán's materials and techniques), and others.
248 pages
€ 49 in BOZAR BOUTIK
Two versions : NL and FR
BOZAR BOOKS & Mercatorfonds
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
ZURBARÁN. MASTER OF SPAIN'S GOLDEN AGE
Where
Centre for Fine Arts
rue Ravensteinstraat 23
1000 Brussels
When
29 January > 25 May 2014
Opening hours
Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am > 6 pm
Thursday: 10 am > 9 pm
Closed on Mondays
Tickets
€ 12 - € 10 (BOZARfriends).
Combiticket Zurbarán + Borremans: € 18 – € 16 (BOZARfriends)
Combiticket Zurbarán + Borremans + Nautilus: € 23 - €21 (BOZARfriends)
More discounts: www.bozar.be
BOZAR Info & tickets
+32 2 507 82 00 – [email protected] – www.bozar.be
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PRESS CONTACTS
Centre for Fine Arts
Rue Ravensteinstraat 23
1000 Brussels
Info & tickets: T. +32 (0)2 507 82 00 – www.bozar.be
Hélène Tenreira
Senior Press Officer BOZAR THEATRE, DANCE, CINEMA, CORPORATE
T. +32 (0)2 507 84 27
T. +32 (0)475 75 38 72
[email protected]
Déborah Motteux
Press Officer BOZAR EXPO
T. +32 (0)2 507 83 89
T. +32 (0)471 95 14 60
[email protected]
Barbara Porteman
Press Officer FESTIVAL, WORLD MUSIC, ARCHITECTURE
T. +32 (0)2 507 84 48
T. +32 (0)479 98 66 04
[email protected]
Laura Bacquelaine
Press Officer BOZAR MUSIC, LITERATURE
T. +32 (0)2 507 83 91
T. +32 (0)471 86 22 31
[email protected]
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